Banking Deal Summary for Nov 26th

This Thanksgiving week was fairly quiet on the bank rate front. The only bank that made a change to its savings/money market account was Corus Bank. Corus Bank's money market account finally made it to 4%. It's now at 4.01% APY for deposits between $10K and $100K. Deposits over $100 earn 4.17% APY.

Corus Bank also raised the rates on its CDs. Its 6-month and 12-month CDs are now at 4.55% and 4.84% APY. Corus Bank's 1-year CD now matches Self-Help Credit Union's (SHCU) 1-year CD. SHCU CD rates seem to fluctuate every day. This week, its CD rates have gone down a bit. The 1-year CD went down from 4.90% to 4.84% APY.

Only two other banks made changes to their short term CD rates. UmbrellaBank made an increase of 0.10%, and GMAC Bank made an increase of 0.05%.

One new bank with high deposit rates that I came across this week is the US operations of the State Bank of India (SBI). At the time of my initial post about SBI, its bottom rates for 6-month and 12-month CDs were 4.63% and 4.89% APY with only $1K minimum required deposit for US residents. However, the rates went down slightly and are now 4.58% and 4.78% APY. It also has a money market deposit account that pays 3.76% APY. This bank is FDIC insured so it should be safe, but as I mentioned in the previous post, the website could be better. I'll wait and continue to research it before I add it to my list.

I also came across this week several CDs at local credit unions and banks with rates over 5%. The best deal is a 5% 9-month CD at Vineyard Bank in California. I've included links to my posts about these deals near the bottom of the list.

In the list below I've added MMA next to the rates that are from money market accounts. Most of these money market accounts have checking writing and ATM cards. Online savings accounts usually lack both of these.

The rates listed below are in APY. No minimum balances are required unless noted. Previous weekly summaries are available for Nov 19th, Nov 12th, Nov 5th, Oct 29th, Oct 22nd and Oct 15th.

As of November 26, 2005

Savings/Money Market Accounts:

• Western Financial Bank - 4.25% MMA, offers checking, my post
• UmbrellaBank.com - 4.15% MMA (min $1K), offers checking, my post
• Presidential - 4.12% (min $5K, only first $35K receives this rate), offers checking, my post
• GMAC Bank - 4.05% MMA (min $500), offers checking
• CapitalOne/Costco - 4.02% MMA (min $5K, Costco members only, $25 deal for exec. members)
• Corus Bank - 4.01% MMA (min $10K to open)
• HSBC - 4.00%, offers checking, (rate history)
• EmigrantDirect - 4.00%, my post, ($10 signup bonus), (rate history)
• MyBankingDirect - 4.00% MMA (min $5K), my post
• UFB Direct - 3.80% MMA, offers checking, my post
• CapitalOne - 3.75% (MMA has same rate, but with checks and ATM. $100 min.)
• Self-Help Credit Union - 3.66% MMA (min $500), my post
• VirtualBank - 3.55% (min $100), offers checking, my post
• ING Direct - 3.50%, my post ($25 deal), (rate history)
• MetLife Bank - 3.50% MMA (min $5K), my post ($50 deal)
• NetBank - 3.36% MMA ($500 min), requires checking, my post ($175 deal)
• ebank - 3.30% MMA ($1K min, rate for $10K-25K balance), offers checking

6-Month Certificates of Deposit:

• Self-Help Credit Union - 4.66% (min $500), my post
• Corus Bank - 4.55% (min $10K)
• UmbrellaBank.com - 4.50% (min $1K)
• GMAC Bank - 4.45% (min $500)
• VirtualBank - 4.40% (min $10K)
• ebank - 4.35% (min $1K), 4.60% for ePremium checking customers
• NetBank - 4.35% (min $1K), my post ($25 CD deal)
• ING Direct - 4.10%
• Western Financial Bank - 3.75% ($100 min)

12-Month Certificates of Deposit:

• Self-Help Credit Union - 4.84% (min $500), my post
• Corus Bank - 4.84% (min $10K)
• UmbrellaBank.com - 4.80% (min $1K)
• GMAC Bank - 4.75% (min $500)
• VirtualBank - 4.70% (min $10K)
• NetBank - 4.65% (min $1K), my post ($25 CD deal)
• ebank - 4.60% (min $1K), 4.85% for ePremium checking customers
• MetLife Bank - 4.51% ($1K min)
• Western Financial Bank - 4.40% ($100 min)
• ING Direct - 4.35%

18-Month Certificates of Deposit:

• CapitalOne/Costco - 4.74% (min $5K, Costco members only)

Checking and Saving Accounts at Local Credit Unions

• 5.12% money market account (California)
• 4.25% no-minimum savings account (New York)
• 4.00% checking account (CU that's open to all)

CD Specials at Local Credit Unions/Banks

• 6.25% 120-month CD (New York)
• 5.96% 60-month / 4.67% 6-month CDs (Michigan)
• 5.90% 15-month / 5.12% 8-month CDs (Illinois)
• 5.50% 60-month / 5.00% 30-month CDs (Chicago)
• 5.25% 7-month CD (Kentucky)
• 5.10% 12-month CD (Georgia)
• 5% 9-month/4.75% 6-month CD (California)
• 5% 15-month CD (Georgia)
• 5% 19-month / 4.8% 10-month CDs (Chicago)
• 5% 15-month CD (Massachusetts)
• 5% 24-month/4.75% 12-month CD (Chicago)
• 5% 30-month CD (Ohio)
• 4.55% 6-month CD (Austin, Texas)

CD Alternatives

• New I Bond Rate, I Bonds as CD Alternatives